Monday, June 15, 2009

Liberals Aren't Afraid of Socialism

Cynthia Yockey has a great article about the conservatives approach to the health care debate. It addresses an issue that has flummoxed me since the presidential campaign which is this idea of liberals that "socialism" isn't so bad.

Yockey is absolutely correct when she points out that "People who have no access to health care, and people struggling without sufficient health care, will be saying, 'you mean soon I could have some?' Because when you can’t afford it, you already have delays and rationing. Practically any alternative doesn’t just look better, it is better."

She says that "socialism" holds no dread for liberals - and I believe this. I have seen this.

Is it that liberals really don't understand what it means? Or is it that they just would prefer that sort of system? I've talked to friends that are liberal and many of them assert that we should indeed convert to a European style of social management; that Americans are egocentric, arrogant, and closed minded about such topics and that we simply refuse to investigate or accept other methods. They will even stand there and tell you that the fact that our government now runs the American automobile industry, a large part of the banking industry, has major new controls over the tobacco industry and now wants to run the health care industry is not socialism.

I don't agree with them. I've done my homework on socialism. Cynthia Yockey has, too. So has my blogging buddy Roxy whose grandparents lived in Cuba. Upon hearing about the seizure and closure of automobile dealerships, Roxy wrote, "The first thing that came to my mind was my dad telling me about the day, in Cuba, that my grandmother went to open her beauty salon and there were government officials waiting for her to tell her that it was no longer her business. Just like private property and private businesses were seized from law abiding, hard working, Cubans 50 years ago, now it is being seized from Americans."

A perfect example of that happening here is to look at Gretchen Carlson's family or any of the others across America who have lost their lifelong work to the American government.

Liberals will also tell you (and so will Obama) that when conservatives speak out against these actions, we're "fear mongering." Just trying to scare you. You mean, you aren't already scared? Really?

Yockey says, "I assure long time conservatives that the word 'socialism' does not hold any dread for liberals. Most of them have no idea what the word means. Liberals have simply not done as much homework as conservatives have on economic theory! Worse than that, they don’t believe in themselves as individuals the way conservatives do! So enough of them are sufficiently desperate that they are willing to trade the greater opportunity of capitalism, with its very real risks, for the stagnation of socialism and its false promise of security."

So as conservatives, what do we do? If we scream and rail against Obama's heath care takeover, we're just "bashing our President" and being closed minded. Fear mongering. Liberals simply aren't listening and we aren't making our case. How to get through to them before it's too late?

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I am a Conservative writer and high school English teacher in Shreveport and also work as a free-lance proofreader. I've been published at The American Thinker, The Shreveport Times, The Bossier Press Tribune and had photographs published in Bayou Bucks magazine and other local publications. I like dogs better than most people.